As institutional adoption of digital assets matures, a new corporate playbook is emerging: treat ether not just as an investment, but as productive financial infrastructure.

The shift comes amid sharp downward market volatility. SharpLink Gaming (SBET) — which saw its stock soar last May after adopting an ether ETH$1,935.55 treasury strategy — has since plunged (along with every other of 2025's hastily-formed digital asset treasury companies). It's a reminder of the turbulence that continues to define the asset class.

At a panel discussion at Consensus Hong Kong 2026 featuring Sharplink Chairman Joe Lubin and CEO Joseph Chalom, the two executives outlined how DATs are evolving into a distinct institutional strategy.

“I’ve never seen more of a moment of differentiation where the actual macro tailwinds for Ethereum have never been better in its 10-and-a-half-year history,” said Chalom, pointing to the growth of stablecoins and tokenization. “Listen to Larry Fink at Davos, when he’s telling you $14 trillion of BlackRock assets will be tokenized, and over 65% of that to date is happening on Ethereum.”

While recent ether price action and ETF flows have raised concerns, Chalom framed them as part of broader macro de-risking. “Bitcoin and ether were very easy to de-risk,” he said, adding that rotations out of liquid assets are typical during volatility. “The largest players in institutional finance are telling us out loud — they’re coming to ether.”

SharpLink’s strategy differs, he argued, because it deploys permanent capital. “An ETF is a great passive exposure vehicle, but it needs to provide daily liquidity…We own permanent capital,” he said. “The third stage — which is actually most important — is making your ETH productive.”

Lubin emphasized ether’s distinguishing feature: yield.

“Ether would be a much better asset… because it is a productive asset. It yields. It has a risk-free rate,” he said, referring to staking returns of roughly 3%. SharpLink has staked nearly all its holdings and plans to continue accumulating. “We’ll keep buying ether. We’ll keep staking ether and adding new yield to ether.”

Beyond staking, Chalom described what he called “good institutional DeFi,” using long-term locked capital to earn risk-adjusted returns rather than chasing venture-style upside. “We’re not looking for convex VC 10x outcomes — we’re looking for the best risk-adjusted yield for our investors. And we're actually confident that by doing it, we'll improve the DeFi ecosystem by raising its standards.”

For Lubin, the shift resembles the early internet era. “A long time ago…there were internet companies. Now every company is an internet company. Soon, every company is going to be a blockchain company,” he said, predicting firms will increasingly hold tokens on balance sheets and require sophisticated onchain treasury tools.

Read more: Ethereum treasury firm SharpLink stakes $170M ETH on Linea network